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When I was looking for general information about the size of the global yoga industry, I came across this information that Japan is (was) the fastest growing market that had a 400% increase in participation in yoga. The interesting thing was that, the more I looked for academic information on 'Yoga in Japan', the more I realised that there is basically nothing written. The more I spoke to Japanese anthropologists, who are also yoga practitioners and experts on South Asia, the more I was told that there is even a domestic lack of scholarship on yoga in Japan. It was this moment that led me to pivot my analytical gaze from being solely focused on 'global yoga and India', to instead document and understand the consumption of yoga in East Asia, in relation to the politics and economics of the Indian state.

Through following links I finally found that this figure mentioned above was for the period 2005-2010. Still, what is happening in the Japanese spiritual marketplace and yoga industry in 2017? We still don't know. I've since spoken to long-standing yoga teachers in Japan who have told me that, during this time, there was a huge increase, but then, for no clear reason, the growth has shouldered. This is known as an industry reaching its post-growth 'mature phase'. Still, over the next two years I will quantify and qualify 'Yoga in Japan'.